Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Property blogs and property forums

A recent anonymous comment on our blog got a little confused between blogs and forums and what was good practice.

This confusion got me thinking about the debate going on over on the EAT forums (which are still be spammed I hasten to add)? The forums are having an internal debate about users who plug their product. For some, this appears acceptable practice, whilst others are outraged. So what is good practice?

I believe neither a forum nor a blog are places to pitch your company and/or hard sell your product, unless it is truly addressing the forum question in a genuinely constructive manner. Forum users are generally looking for feedback, help and advice not a hard sell. If your advice is good and goes one step beyond then you are effectively selling your services in any event. Indeed, I will investigate the author of a good forum post which in turn reflects upon his/her company and is surely the correct way to market a brand in this environment.

A forum to me is an online brainstorming session and if one contributor is constantly selling their brand it is going to destroy the flow, get on the nerves of others and I will eventually leave the forum. It is for the forum editor to control these individuals. If no editor exists appoint one or more, there will be plenty of offers.

Before anyone says, but property owl posted on the EAT forum with an offer.... Well, they would be correct (albeit not a blatant plug) and the guilty party is currently cleaning the windows.